Vice President's Remarks to the Travel Pool
Port of New Orleans Headquarters
New Orleans, Louisiana

October 12, 2006

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate the opportunity to come
back to New Orleans this afternoon and get a briefing on how things are
going in terms what's really a crucial part of the whole recovery
operation, obviously.

Earlier I had a chance to visit with the Canal Barge Company
leadership and see one of their tugs out here in the river. And then
General Crear has just given me a briefing on where we stand with
respect to the work that the Corps of Engineers has been doing. This
clearly has been one of the most important parts of the recovery effort.
It's probably one of the bigger projects the Corps has ever undertaken
in the history of the Corps. And that's altogether fitting since this
was one of the worst natural disasters, obviously, that the United
States has ever had to endure.

But I'm impressed with what they've done. It looks like the levee
system is back basically to pre-Katrina levels, in some cases, even
better than that. There's still a lot of work to be done, a number of
studies still under way and more work to be done in the future. But
I've been tremendously impressed with what we've seen here today. I
think the General deserves a lot of credit. And obviously, Don Powell
has been the President's man in New Orleans working together with the
delegation, with Senator Vitter and the other members of the delegation.
We've come a long way, but we've got a lot to do yet, and delighted to
have the opportunity to stop in and see what has been accomplished and
improve my own understanding of what remains to be done. Thank you very
much.